Special FAQ: Youth hunt & blaze orange, tags
October 4, 2012
By: Bureau of Law Enforcement
Here are answers to some of the recent most frequently asked law enforcement questions taken by the DNR Call Center. The Call Center is staffed daily, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., and offers bilingual service in Spanish and Hmong. The number is 1-888-936-7463.
Question 1: How does the October 6 and 7 statewide youth gun-deer hunt affect all other hunters?
Answer: That’s a good question. The statewide youth hunt is for hunting deer with firearms. Gun-deer hunting, as you know, carries with it the blaze orange regulation which requires all hunters’ outer clothing above the waist and a hat, if worn, to be at least 50% blaze orange. This rule applies to all hunters, except the waterfowl hunters, no matter what game you are hunting. Again, the reason is that the youth hunt is a statewide gun-deer hunt. Starting October 8 the blaze orange regulation no longer applies until the statewide gun deer season on November 17 – unless hunting on lands where a special disabled gun-deer hunt is occurring.
Question 2: I am 18+ and have my hunter’s certification. Can the youth hunter who I am supervising fill my Gun Deer Tags during the Youth hunt?
Answer: Sorry to tell you the answer is no. In order to be legal under the Group Hunting Law, you must be able to actively participate in a given Gun Deer Hunt. This means for the youth hunt you must be of correct age (10-15) in order to participate. A person over the age of 15 has no authority to Group Hunt or harvest/tag/register a deer under the authority of their Gun Deer License during the scheduled Youth Deer Hunt.